Fire escape safety device



G. MATTIOLI 1,849,878

FIRE ESCAPE SAFETY DEVICE March 15, 1932.

Filed June 3, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet l Invenlor away 361mm;

%9 fimaorim Allomey March 15, 1932.

e. MATTIOLI FIRE ESCAPE SAFETY DEVICE Filed June 5, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 II:- I

-/6 I nvcnlor 6ZZJS6/Q/J6 lYaZiz'aZal Patented Mar. 15, 1932 tea i emseeramerrsom. or JE sEY. CITY, JERSEY FIRE ESCAIBE. SAFETY DEYIQE Application fil'ed-Ju ne a, 1980, Serial No. 452 127.

nventi n; elate an mproved de- "itaq lseietyitypeus ble n connection with essens. tructur li f m ploy? ns t. dropt iadderead onrentionalco nterwsishtsasreasiea means th r for.

In the orm. t eescapeu i r onsidera eaa tlsnel th t a r p ad is seti n. a sesia ion ith the low st bal cony or landing. 8 as ase era rule.pullsysar prov ded on esweat-tawny andthe ladder; is mvid dv i lhi. b.1 trained mar th pul eys and, 011th ree en s f he cables arecounter:

...s arran ement o ds hel ld r or-mat le atsd St t w th. espect to h.

- 2, onyan he n jus bove i With this arrangement, it -freqnently hap Peas-that hs c ble illi. realst us a l w n e ght a s r andps mitt ngtb dder ta d wn. a ihu au e an ne n l able ac id V he oreg i Qbie tioa in mind. I

-the we -balc ny o uchcen cti a s ebe-narmellr e fecti h -t9: om a t e is y nep ay o c hing are Suspendg-t =isi. sr n: as of. a cid nts, e by aking a hs ables r d c nnec ng: of:

@ethru the medium of the counter Weight, the

attachment being characterized by automaticallyprojecting the hanger hooks which are. normally out of the Way oftherungs'of' the. ladder, but-Which are brought into engagement with the rungs in case ofaccident.

In the drawings Figure 1 is aside elevational' View of'a conventional fire .GSCELPQIStIUCtUI'G equipped with the. improved attachment.

Fig. 2 is an end view thereof, observing the 55 structureshown in Fig. 1, in a direction fromright to left.

Eig. Sis a horizontal section showing, on an enlarged scale, the details of the. safety at,- tachment.

Fig. 1. is. a top plan View of the pulley ar rangement on. the second: balcony.

Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are detail perspective views.

In the drawings, in Figs. 1 and 2, the reference. character 8 designates the first balcony or 65 landing, and 9 represents the. second balcony. The second balcony is provided With brackets for supporting a pair of pulleys 10 over Which cables1-1are trained. The cables areattached" at their free ends to. the. descending ladder 70 12. Incidentally the. rungs of the ladder are represented by. the numeral 13.

On the opposite ends of-the cables. are. the. counter-Weights 14 which are shown as passing. through guide straps 14 provided for 75 this purpose. The attachment is of a double or duplex type, and comprises attaching base- 15 fastened on the bottom of the landing 8. On the outer edge, I provide a pair of duplicate brackets 16 which serve to maintain in place. the safety catches orretainers. 17'. 1

Each retainer is the same in construction and a description of one will sufiice forboth. The retainer is formed from a single length of Wire oii'appropriate gauge metal, Which 85 hasa depending arm 18 terminatingfin a hook 19 for engaging the rungs 13. Theupperend portion is formed with a crank portion 20 which constitutes. a trip, and theintermedi'ate portion Q'izfunctionsasa journaliandg is rock.-.

ably mounted in the bearing on the comple mental bracket 16.

In practice, the hooked arms 18 hang down to the clearance position shown in Fig. 1 under normal circumstances. The trip ends or cranks 21 assume an upwardly inclined position overlying the adjacent edge portion or V the base plate 15. In fact, the terminal of posed beneath the main counter-weight 14.."

this part underlies the adjacent end portion of the companion actuating arm 22. This armis formed on one end with a counterweight 23 and-it is pivoted intermediate its ends on an upstanding bracket 24, provided on the plate.

- The free end portion of the arm is dis- The device is shown in normal position in Fig. 1 andt-he lower end portions of the counter-weights 14 rest lightly on the freeend portions of the arms 22. The arms in turn rest in contact on the trip cranks 20.

With this arrangement, when the cables 11' breakthe counter-weights 14: bearing down on the free end portions of the arms 22, will 2' force the arms downwardly against the action of the weights 23, so as to trip the devices 17.

Obviously, this swings the hooks 19 outwardly in a path to engage beneath one of the rungs on the ladder 12, thus engaging the ladder and holding it temporarily to prevent it from falling down on the ground or on a passing pedestrian.

It is understood that the device is brought into operation, WhGlillQPBiiillBI one or both of 2 the cables break or burn, or in the event that the Weights themselves become disconnected from the cables or if the ladder 12 breaks I loose.

The gist of the invention, it will be understood, is in the provision of a safety device a on the lower landing 8, and embodying automatically tripped swingable retainers 17 so constructed as to be normally out of the way of the ladder to permit it to be employed for z emergency conditions, but so located as to come into play for engaging an adjacent rung of the ladder in case of accidental breakage of the suspending means for the ladder.

The present embodiment of the invention has been disclosed in considerable detail merely for the purpose of exemplification, since in actual practice it attains the features of advantage enumerated as desirable in the statement of the invention and the above description.

It is to be understood that by describing in detail herein any particular form, structure.

or arrangement, it is not intended to limit the invention beyond the terms of the several claims, or the requirements of the prior art. Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is v v 1. In a structure for a fire escape structure including a counter-weight, in combination,

a fire escape structure embodying stationary 2A safety attachment for a firey'escape landing comprising an attaching plate, swingably mounted and normally ineffective ladder retainerscarriedby said plate, and counter-weights-actuated means for rendering said device eliective under predetermined accident position.

A fire escape safety attachment of the class described comprising an attaching plate,

a bearing thereon, a depending arm provided with a ladder engaging hook, said arm being formed at its top with a ournal mounted for rotation in said bearing, a projection formed" on the upper end of said hookedarm, and" swingably mounted means on said plate co.- operating'with said projection for'bringing the hook into playi i predetermined accident condition.

4c. In a safety attachment of the class described, an attaching plate, an upstanding bearing carried thereby, an arm pivotally mounted intermediate its ends on said bearing, and provided at one end with a counter weight and having its opposite end located for engagement with thecounter-weight on the fire escape structure, and a ladder engaging device swingably mounted on said plate including means cooperable with the free end portion of said arm.

5. A safety attachment for a fire escape" structure including counter-weights, an atl taching plate provided with a pair of upstanding bearings, a pair of substantially horizontally disposed arms pivotally mounted intermediate their ends in said bearings,*sa.id

arms being formed at their inner ends with weights, the outer end portions of-the arms f being adapted for location beneath the counter-weights of the fire escape construction, additional bearings on said plate located adjacent the edges of the plate, and'a pair of ladder engaging devices cooperable with the free end portions of said arms, said de-. 126

vices comprising depending arms terminating in rung engaging hooks, ournals mounted "for rotation in the additional bearingaand crank portions having their terminalends' located beneath the free end P o "of t em I weighted arms.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

GIUSEPPE MATTI OLI 

